Brie-Green Risotto

Peas and Mint in later summer are a combination that go together as well as coffee and cream and the risotto that I made on bank holiday Tuesday certainly lived up to this theory. I began by dicing a large onion and three garlic cloves which I then fried on a medium heat in a Le Creuscet Dish for around ten minutes after first adding a generous helping of black pepper.

Once the onion and garlic had turned a rusty brown colour I added fifteen ounces of risotto rice and stirred them repeatedly into the soft onion and garlic for two minutes. The trick with risottos is to stir the rice constantly to stop it from sticking to the bottom of the dish while ensuring the mixture does not dry up.To help my cause therefore I added half a pint of white wine and stirred it into the rice for ten minutes until the rice became translucent began to bulge noticeably as a result of it absorbing the wine.

Next I added twelve ounces of peas, if you cannot find fresh peas then frozen ones work just as well, again with the idea of ensuring that the risotto did not dry up I poured a quarter of a pint of vegetable stock into the Le Cresceut dish and continued to stir it on a medium heat until the rice, peas, onions and garlic had absorbed it. I repeated the process with another quarter of a pint of vegetable stock until the rice and vegetables had absorbed most of stock while ensuring there was enough stock remaining to keep the risotto from being too dry.

I removed the risotto from the hob and added four tablespoons of dried mint together with three ounces of cubed Brie and an ounce of grated Parmesan. Once the Brie and Parmesan had melted the risotto was ready.

The presence of the Brie and Parmesan added a real richness to this dish as did the white wine however the strength and quantity of the black pepper and dried mint gave a sharpness that made the risotto hot and strong tasting. This one is certainly a dish to enjoy with a glass of white wine as a result.